Ribera del Duero - where to start?

[John_Glas]

I strongly agree on Aalto. Drank a 2007 a while back and still improving.

A more budget option I like is Bodegas Resalte. The 2005 crianza once got Wine Spectators love in 2010 - 100. CT shows this wine is also still alive and kicking.

Resalte offers a solid value for sure.

[John_Glas]

Apologies if I’ve missed an old thread on this - I couldn’t find anything on the first few search pages.

I’ve long loved Rioja (La Rioja Alta, LDH, Muga, Riscal, Vargas, Murrieta, LAN, CVNE etc) but have almost zero experience with Ribera del Duero.

Where should I start? Below $60, so no Pingus or Vega Sicilia please.

Just stay in Rioja!

[Lee_Short]

I am very far from an expert on the region, but my favorite has been the Cillar de Silos. Though I haven’t tried the last few vintages.

[Keith_A_k_e_r_s]

Aalto

Been disappointed with them. Modern style and lots of oak.

That’s basically RDD in a nutshell though. Use of French oak is part of the DO regulations and it is a very dry area that is at altitude. There are some producers that coax more elegance out of RDD, but that’s not what Mother Nature is really giving the region.

I don’t know how you go about defining modern though on a region as young as RDD. It was made a DO in 82 and many producers have started making wine in the last 25-odd years. Or are you saying that ripe fruit and new oak=modern? If so, given your predilection for Washington wines, I’m rather surprised that you are looking down on RDD.

[Andrew_Ing]

I love Aalto and am on the hunt for more producers in this thread. I really like the French oak and altitude of the region. I tend to like the Riojas with altitude.

[Arv_R]

Not that I have exhaustive experience in the DO, but I’m hard pressed to think of any that are not modern and wood armored.

Separately, I would throw some caution on Finca Villacreces and/or Pruno. Various (good) years of that I’ve cellared do not seem to keep well, turning hot/pruney over time.

[GregT]

Aalto

Been disappointed with them. Modern style and lots of oak.

That’s basically RDD in a nutshell though. Use of French oak is part of the DO regulations and it is a very dry area that is at altitude. There are some producers that coax more elegance out of RDD, but that’s not what Mother Nature is really giving the region.

I don’t know how you go about defining modern though on a region as young as RDD. It was made a DO in 82 and many producers have started making wine in the last 25-odd years. Or are you saying that ripe fruit and new oak=modern? If so, given your predilection for Washington wines, I’m rather surprised that you are looking down on RDD.

Exactly. I doubt that anyone would really care for the “traditional” RdD, whatever that may be. Of the new bodegas, one of the most “traditional” would be Pesquera, which is characterized by a lot of oak, much like Rioja.

What else does “modern” mean? Aalto is made from organic grapes, natural yeasts, no filtering, so it’s modern in that way. I’ve tasted a fair bit of Tempranillo from WA and I daresay they’re using Aalto as a model.

[Matt_Mauldin]

Dominio de Atauta is really nice for ~$30-40.

[MikeS1]

Wines by Perez Pascuas (vina Pedrosa, El Pedrosal and Perez Pascuas Gran Riserva). The 2018 El Pedrosal Crianza is $16.99 at my local New Jersey Bottle king. Great QPR.

[lleichtman]

Still can’t beat older Vega Sicilia or Pingus, even Flor de Pingus for taste delights. Haven’t tried any modern ones but from the descriptions, maybe not and certainly not at the prices they want now.

[Arv_R]

@GregT

…
It was only in the 1970s that Alejandro Fernandez was one of the first after the Lecanda family to try making serious wines. He founded Pesquera and he worked with a few others to create the D.O., which was established only in 1982.
…
Fernandez got his wine into Parker’s hands. Of course, at the time, Parker had pretty much zero experience with Spanish wine other than a passing idea of Rioja, so he was amazed and scored them highly. Since that time interest in the area has exploded.
…
But not all. The iconic producer is of course Fernandez, who passed recently.
…
Pesquera tends to be a little funky and instantly recognizable. It has what I call “Tempranillo funk”, which is characteristic of the grape and pronounced in that wine. There are several wineries under the umbrella but the other in Ribera is Condado de Haza, which has a little less of the funk but is often quite enjoyable. Neither is particularly tannic or uber ripe.

Over a couple nights, I enjoyed the 2010 Condado de Haza [Ribera del Duero] and my thoughts are similar to a prior bottle from two years ago. This RDD is a husky, chewy 14.5% abv tempranillo showing fennel, cocoa, and licorice flavors. The tannin is resolved but there still some footprints of the wood treatment. For my tastes, it is low acid, and ‘internationally styled’ but of high quality, and ought to be versatile in the WBer cellar rack as it can be served casually, or to oenophiles, as long as they are not militantly AFWE. This 2010 is holding well but at age 13 has faded a bit on day 2 so I would suggest consumption, even if it’s not urgent. B+ over a 2 day scorecard, but one of those first glasses about an hour in was really singing, at the A- level. Natural cork, light sediment.

Rioja/RDD are difficult for me to pour into the ideal stemware – other than Georg Riedel’s suggestion to just buy them all – but I tried today’s Condado de Hazo out of 3 different styles from less heralded manufacturers, and I think this showed the best out of a (not pictured) taller, narrower more Tuscan / Chianti / Zin stem. Generalizing, I like older tempranillo out of bigger Burgundy bowls, but 2010 is at the cusp where it defies easy categorization as to whether it’s clearly young or old.

[Arv_R]

@GregT

Then of course, you had to get someone trying to be bigger and blacker and riper and along came Peter Sisseck who made Pingus. He had shown up to manage a new project called Hacienda Monasterio, and you should try their wines. For his pet project, he decided on 200% new oak (!) by using 100% new for a year and then dumping those barrels into new barrels for another year. I may be off on the time - don’t know if it was one year, two years, whatever. His first vintage was 1995, which was an outstanding year in the region. It got to Parker at the en primeur tastings in Bordeaux and he gave it 96-100 and called it one of the best young wines he had ever tasted. So his love affair with Spain began. Bob was at his height at the time and the wine overnight became one of the most expensive wines in Spain.

I’ve been gnawing on a 2010 Hacienda Monasterio [Ribera del Duero] the last couple of nights, which is a thick, meaty 15% abv internationally styled red. It’s pretty good after aeration of 24 hours, when the heavy prune, licorice, sur maturite aspects shake out, and some brightness emerges. I’ve had a lot of this, in many vintages, since their initial US imports but I don’t buy their output anymore. Prices feel much higher, and the ‘uniqueness/singularity’ is less so, as others have aped a winning formula. (Current releases are $70 I think?) For my palate the bouquet shows anise, licorice and then plums, prunes, currants on the palate. Tannin is soft now, but the body/structure is apparent. The wood feels resolved, and the acid is (initially) low, but brightens up with air. The color suggests youthfulness, but given my consumption over the years, I’ve found H-M better on the younger side for ‘fine wine’ thus a decade or so after harvest is my preference. Light sediment, brown bottle, conventional closure.

Overall: I’m going to give this a B+, a rating more simpatico with WB or AFWE palates. This would be great for fans of California Big Flavor. I don’t mean any of that in a negative connotation; I have lots still and enjoy them.

[Arv_R]

Doing my best to keep this thread alive, I have been sipping on the 2019 Pago de Carraovejas [Ribera del Duero] over a couple of lazy afternoons while on holiday. As Otto observes in another in depth note from a few years ago, the typical RDD has ‘tons of oak, alcohol, and extraction’, which I would concur that this 2019 also offers, but I like it nevertheless. There is a suprising brightness that draws the taster back in for a second sip (or glass) that the 15% abv would not impute. My observations are that it’s still young, ruby robed, with cloves and cocoa on the nose. I find the the palate to have black cherries, with somewhat resolved tannin, a bit of zip and lots of flesh. According to the back label it’s mostly tempranillo, hand harvested, with native yeasts from a family of restauranteurs that launched the project in 1987. I like it and would slot it into the A- zone; this bodedga has managed the tension between ripeness and verve well, which seems hard in our warm climate era.

I don’t see this often so not sure if it will really replace my regular RDD’s…but I’m not buying much in this DO anyways, as I feel like Rioja is more my preference.

[JuanS]

I second the Dominio de Atauta recommendation by @Matt_Mauldin and I will add a few others which are less well known but top-quality (although I am unsure if they are available in the US).

• Dominio de Calogía - slightly over your price but really worth it
• Tomás Postigo - former wine-maker of Protos and one of the founders of Pago de Carraovejas, now independent. His 3-year wine falls well within your range but he has a 5-year which is even more mind-blowing
• Dominio del Águila Reserva - this is 65 euros; they have a cheaper one…but go for this and you won’t regret it. Prices rocketed after Jorge Monzón (owner and winemaker) got his first 100RP for his top-of-the-range wine.
• Pago de Valtarreña - from the living legend Carmelo Rodero; some will find this one too oaky, but the fruit is outstanding
• PSI - if you want to know what a litlle Pingus tastes like (owned by Sisseck and produced with outstanding quality regularity)
• Mauro - from another living legend: Mariano García. Again, the superior Mauro VS will slightly exceed your limit (about 63 euros in Europe) but it is totally worth it

Many wines from Ribera de Duero went through a phase of over-oakyness but most are coming back to terms. Come to think of it, one of the ones whose recent wines are phenomenal and not so oaky are Arzuaga’s. Try Arzuaga Reserva Especial.

Good luck!